Yara Shahidi Graduates From Harvard University -- See the Pics
Yara Shahidi is officially a college graduate! The Grown-ish star graduated from Harvard University on Thursday, and she took her fans along for the ride by sharing photos and videos on social media.
The 22-year-old actress' mother, Keri, kicked the celebration off by sharing a video with her daughter on Monday. "Guess where I am, guess who I'm with? Who's about to graduate?" Keri asked in the video before panning to her daughter walking beside her.
"Meeeee," Yara answered, beaming into the camera.
"‼️HIP HIP HOORAY‼️" the mother of three captioned the video post.
She followed that up with another video the next day, featuring the duo in a car on their way to the baccalaureate. "It's getting real," Yara says in the clip as she sports her graduation cap and gown.
On Wednesday, both mother and daughter posted photos from the baccalaureate -- which, per the institution's website, was held in person on Wednesday and Thursday -- with Yara in her gown and Keri in a floral number posing together. "Celebrating ALL week! T MINUS ☝️ DAY AWAY FROM GRADUATION 👩🏾🎓," the graduate captioned her post.
Yara posted photos with her younger brothers, aka her "day one's," out of her cap and gown. "T-Minus 1 day to GRADUATION🔥 so here I am, sharing this special moment with my most special day one’s," she wrote alongside the post.
On Thursday, Yara's father, Afshin, commemorated the joyous occasion by sharing a selfie of the pair at Harvard. In the shot, the actress wore her cap and gown.
"Beautifully surreal moment seeing our delicate petal in full bloom," he captioned the photo.
The Black-ish alum also posted photos and a Boomerang to her Instagram Story, featuring her posing alongside some of her classmates.
Keri shared a photo of the graduate in her cap and gown holding a bouquet, with "hard work pays off" writing on the screen.
The new graduate got into Harvard in 2017 but took a gap year before beginning her studies. For the past four years, Yara has been juggling her acting career and her studies, which is pretty similar to her Grown-ish character, Zoey Johnson's, journey. Zoey continually struggles to handle her studies at Cal U and her evolving fashion career in the Freeform series.
Both Yara and Zoey celebrated their graduations this year -- the fourth season of Grown-ish saw Zoey and her friends graduate from the California University of Liberal Arts, marking the start of their lives in the real world. It also marked the exit of the show's six original cast members, including Francia Raisa (Ana), Emily Arlook (Nomi), Chloe Bailey (Jazz), Luka Sabbat (Luca), Halle Bailey (Sky) and Jordan Buhat (Vivek).
But graduation won't be the end of the story; Grown-ish was renewed for season 5 with Black-ish star Marcus Scribner joining his TV sister on the spinoff and reprising his role as Andre Johnson Jr. as he embarks on his journey to being "grown."
Just like Zoey found her home away from home regularly invaded by various family members throughout her four years at California University, fans can expect Scribner's Junior to receive the same treatment as he kicks off his undergrad career. Yara, Diggy Simmons (Doug) and Trevor Jackson (Aaron) will also return for the fifth season, which will follow their post-grad adventures as Cal U welcomes a new class, including Junior. It's a transition that Scribner said he's "pumped" to tackle.
"I'm excited to continue that story for Junior and see where he goes and how he evolves as a character," he told ET. "I just love the fact that our writers are able to allow our characters to grow 'cause, you know, with a lot of sitcom characters, they stay still, they have the same one line for the rest of it. But Junior has been able to grow as a character and he's going to keep growing in Grown-ish so it really is the natural evolution."
That's a sentiment his TV sister agrees with, sharing that she's always advocating to bring more of her fictional family members to the spinoff. And when it comes to the departure of her co-stars, the actress has nothing but excitement for her friends' next steps.
"I'm really excited by the way our family's extending and I think one thing we knew to be true about a show like Grown-ish is it's special to get a group of people like that together and everyone has blossomed in such incredible ways that I feel like the cast will be around forever," she said, pointing out all the ways her former co-stars have taken the next step in their careers.
From Chloe branching into solo music and Halle racking up feature film roles to Francia nabbing a lead role on Hulu's How I Met Your Father, it's clear that the cast of Grown-ish is ready to take on the industry.
"I think what feels great is that Grown-ish has been a part of everybody's growth journey and I think it's been great to be a part of a cast where we're so excited to watch what the next step is for everyone," Yara added. "It's not about stagnating here, this is just a stopping ground."
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